Second Sickness - 2nd Edition by Howard Waitzkin (Paperback)

About the Book

Since the appearance of Waitzkin's The Second Sickness, a landmark book of the 1980s, American medicine has been dramatically transformed. Waitzkin's earlier edition used qualitative research to take readers inside the "black box" of medical decision making. This new, fully up...

Book Synopsis

Since the appearance of Waitzkin's The Second Sickness, a landmark book of the 1980s, American medicine has been dramatically transformed. Waitzkin's earlier edition used qualitative research to take readers inside the "black box" of medical decision making. This new, fully updated and expanded edition retains the earlier edition's vivid approach and adds timely analysis of how managed care and other economic and social forces influence medical practice today.

Review Quotes

Makes good reading for anyone interested in health policy. . . . Waitzkin's warnings about the limits of health reform are thought-provoking.

Superb. . . . Stands out like a beacon amidst confusion. . . . The richness of detail and evidence adduced to support the arguments are exceptional.

This is not a political book but one of political action. The healing profession has to face not only sickness in the individual but sickness in society; all too often, the second sickness is the root of the first. This book will spark controversy. . . .

About the Author

Howard Waitzkin is Professor and Director, Division of Community Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico.